4. I added the
Rose to my name so as to distinguish me from similarly-named
writers. I don’t actually have a middle name. When I was a kid I wanted one
more than anything, so getting to add one in was pretty exciting.

5.I have a
shelf full of Star Trek action figures in my office, and another full of snow
globes.

2. What is your
opinion of the cover?

I adore the
cover. Back when I was working on The Assassin's Curse as a baby writer,
publication a far-off dream, I daydreamed about potential covers for it, and
the one I got was almost exactly what I had pictured.

3. What inspired
the setting of The Assassin’s Curse?

This is kind of
a weird answer, but — it was my interest in climate and weather. I wanted to
try my hand at writing an epic fantasy, but I’ve never been particularly
interested in medieval western Europe. I’ve always loved the landscape of the
desert, and I live in a place known for its extreme heat, so I’m much more
familiar with that sort of climate. Interestingly enough, my city was suffering
through a massive drought and heat wave while I was writing portions of The
Assassin’s Curse, so I didn’t have to do much imagining while I was writing the
desert parts. The Isles of the Sky, and the contrast between them and the
countries Ananna is more familiar with, were inspired by the summer I spent in
Seattle, Washington.

4. Can you tell
us a bit more about the magic in your world?

Magic is a sort
of natural resource, like wind or water — the only difference is that instead
of running it through mill in order to convert it to energy, you have to run it
through a person, someone who can take this wild, dangerous, transformative
material and control it until it becomes something useful. Most people in the
world can control magic to one extent or another, although they generally avoid
it if they haven’t been trained. There are also different types of magic,
related to where it originates: a sea witch can control magic that originates
from the ocean, for example. Naji’s magic is so feared because it uses magic
that originates from human beings.

5. What was the
most difficult part of creating the storyline?

Plotting is
always tricky for me, and this story was more plot-heavy than my stories
generally are. I had written about the first third of the story when I realized
I had no idea what was going to happen next. So I had to stop, draft up a bit
of an outline, and go from there. I repeated this process a couple times during
the course of writing The Assassin’s Curse and its sequel.

6. Who is your
favourite character and why?

Ananna. I love
her loyalty and her pragmatism. If we she were real, I’d want to be her BFF.

Aren't badgers so adorable!!!

7. Which animals
do you think best represent your characters?

Ananna is a
badger: you might underestimate her, but she know how to be fierce and take
care of herself when she needs to. Naji is a panther: he’s sleek and mysterious
and spends a lot of time lounging around in shadows.

8. What do you
believe is the most important element in a book?

Characters, with
the note that I tend to think of setting as its own character. Everything else
in a story flows out of the characters, since if you put people in a particular
place, something interesting is bound to happen. The best characters are the
ones where you can peel away layers during the course of the story to find out
more and more about them — just like you do with real people. And the best
settings work the same way.

9. Do you have
any pet peeves regarding storytelling?

I really
hate stories which focus on some preternaturally beautiful character and/or
love interest and make no attempt to give that character a
personality. Nothing ruins a romance plot like beauty-induced blandness. Plus,
it’s nice to see normal-looking people fall in love for a change — it happens
all the time in real life, why not fiction? It also irritates me when there’s a
character whom everyone in the story falls in love with. I’ll
quit reading a book if I see that happening.

10. Random
Question: Who is your favourite superhero and why?

Batman. I've
actually had arguments about this! I find it hilarious that because Batman
doesn't have any true super powers, he just buys some. Plus he’s rather
unhinged and morally ambiguous, which makes his movies more interesting to
watch.

Now for some questions to Ananna herself:

1. Pirates or
assassins and why?

Definitely
pirates. A pirate’ll fight you straight on, no sneaking around or popping out
of shadows and the like. Seems exhausting. I wouldn’t want Naji’s life, that’s
for sure.

2. How was life
growing up as a pirate?

Couldn’t imagine
any other way of growing up! The best was always after we’d robbed one of the
merchant ships, ‘cause we’d have all these new silks and dresses down in the
holding bay. When I was kid I liked to sneak down there at night and sleep in
‘em — it’s a lot more comfortable than a hammock. I hardly ever spent any time
off the boat. Even when we made port, Papa made me sleep on board.

I think what I
liked best about it, though, was getting to see all these different places.
Like the ice-islands: ain’t no Empire noble’s daughter ever gonna get to do
that. But I’ve been to ‘em a couple times, and I got to see
snow once, which was so cold but also kind of beautiful at the same time.

3. I know you’re
angry with your parents for wanting to marry you off. But do you miss them? If
so, what do you miss about them?

Yeah, I miss ‘em
— of course I miss ‘em! Papa especially, ‘cause he always has advice for any
situation. He’d probably have gotten Naji’s curse cured within a week. And I
miss Mama’s magic and her stories. She probably wouldn’t have even activated
Naji’s curse in the first place.

4. What do you
believe are admirable traits in a person?

Loyalty: you say
you’re in it this with a person, you’d best stay in it! But I’m not interested
in any body who’s loyal to a fault. You got to be smart about it, and you got
to know your own reasons for your loyalty, and they need to be good ones. Don’t
do something just ‘cause somebody told you to. Cleverness is important to me,
too. And so is being able to recognize when somebody deserves respect and when
they don’t.

5. In your own
words, how would you describe Naji?

Well, he’s not
so bad now that he’s not trying to kill me. He’s got a bit of that Empire
snobbery in him, but I don’t really think that’s his fault. And I feel bad
about the way people treat him, ‘cause of his scar. That ain’t right. Everyone
thinks he’s a monster — I mean, I thought it too, before everything happened,
‘cause of what he does — but really there’s nothing monstrous about him.
Nothing at all.

Thank you so much Cassandra and Anannna for agreeing to do this interview with me, it means a lot! :) The Assassin's Curse was a spectacular read befitting its great cover! Be sure to check out my review of The Assassin's Cursehere to see my thoughts on the book!

Ananna of the Tanarau
abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate
clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after
her.

And when Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic
she doesn’t really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse
binding them together. To break the curse, Ananna and the assassin must
complete three impossible tasks—all while grappling with evil wizards,
floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic,
and the growing romantic tension between them.

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I rate writing, setting, plot, main character, villain, other characters, romance (if applicable) separately, and then add them up for the overall rating. My general /5 rating on the top will be determined by the following percentages of the overall rating: